Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 175: Yan Ran Can Be Destroyed (1)

While Zhao Xingde and Li Rui were talking and laughing, they suddenly heard an exclamation from outside Zheng Xiangtang, "Murder is murder!" Inside Zheng Xiangtang, the officials of the five governments who were still arguing and refuting couldn't help looking at each other in astonishment, and they hadn't recovered yet.There were several voices of "Assassins!" and "Come quickly!" These people believed that they had heard correctly.The assassin blatantly committed an attack outside Zheng Xiangtang, as if a drop of water had dropped into a frying pan, and it exploded immediately. Everyone had expressions of shock, astonishment and anger intertwined on their faces. The crowd was so excited that nearly half of them pulled out their portable With his saber, he ran towards the outside of the hall.Immediately afterwards, the voices of "chasing the assassins!" "catch them!"There was a sound of horseshoes outside the hall.

Both Zhao Xingde and Li Rui's expressions changed, and they rushed out of the hall with the flow of people.Zhao Xingde held the hilt of the sword at his waist with his right hand, and carefully protected Li Rui behind him with his left hand.As soon as he arrived at the gate of the hall, he saw two people lying down in the snow a hundred steps away. They seemed to be wearing Confucian robes, and their figures were vaguely familiar.The blood of the victim was soaked in the white snow, which was particularly dazzling in the afternoon sun.An ominous premonition surged into Zhao Xingde's heart, and he walked towards that direction quickly.

Captain Kang Deming stood in front of the victim and shouted loudly: "Where is the sergeant!" The sergeants who had drawn their weapons gathered around him one after another.Form a circle around the corpse so that no one else can come forward.One is to guard against the suspect's accomplice, and the other is to protect the scene of the murder.Not far away, more than a dozen people were sitting on horses, each holding a weapon. The leader was bending over, asking the witnesses who saw the murderer the direction of the murderer's escape, and then mobilized his horses and quickly chased after him.

When he came closer, he saw that the people who were killed and fell to the ground were indeed the two scholars from the Dongren Club who had just left. Zhao Xingde's expression became more serious, while Li Rui's expression changed greatly, and he said in a trembling voice: "Wang Brother, Brother Wu!" Wang Zhong was already lying on the ground motionless.Wu Yue was still alive, and a sergeant was squatting to support him, pressing one hand on the artery above his wound, but the blood kept gurgling out, and it couldn't be stopped. Wu Yue's face gradually turned pale, and his exhalation seemed like Like a broken bellows.Li Rui immediately wanted to rush forward to visit, but was stopped by several sergeants who were already standing around.

Kang Deming's face was ashen, and he shouted: "Waiting for idlers, don't get close!" The sergeants drew out their swords and kept the crowd five steps away from the corpse.The people gathered around consciously stood in the outer circle, some guessed the identity of the victim and the murderer, and some cursed through gritted teeth.The scholar's mansion is a sacred and solemn place, and even a battalion of tiger wing troops stationed next to the scholar's mansion for protection cannot enter without the permission of the scholar's mansion.This assassin dared to commit crimes here, and even murdered at the gate of Zheng Xiangtang, the most important place in the scholar's mansion, it was the greatest humiliation to all Xia Guo scholars.

Seeing that Li Rui was stopped outside, Zhao Xingde walked over, handed over his waist badge, and said in a deep voice, "The last general Cheng Ying Ying Zhao De. This is Li Rui's bachelor and a friend of the victim. Captain Kang, can you let us Go forward?" Kang Deming stepped up and down him vigilantly, and in retrospect, it seemed that he did see Li Rui and Zhao De standing with the two victims.Then he nodded, and said in a deep voice, "Okay," and reminded, "You mustn't move that corpse until you make an inquest."

Zhao Xingde immediately walked forward with Li Rui.But seeing that Wang Zhong was 'shot' in the face and throat, he died immediately.Wu Yue was 'shot' in the chest, his face was already black, his eyes were wide open, but his breath was already weak.Li Rui knelt down beside him, and whispered anxiously: "Brother Wu, Brother Wu!" Zhao Xingde carefully looked at Wu Yue's wound, and a short crossbow had penetrated deep into his left lung, he couldn't help but secretly sighed, this was impossible To save fatal wounds, if the crossbow arrows were pulled out on the spot, they would be killed immediately.And the newly flowed blood was black, which made Zhao Xingde's heart sink: "This is a poisonous crossbow, such a ruthless method." The murderer feared that the shot would miss and it would cost people's lives, so he painted the crossbow. Poisonous things.He looked at the sergeant who was supporting Wu Yue, and the other party also gave him a helpless look.

Seeing that Wu Yue was still conscious, he said in a low voice: "Brother Wu, do you know who did the murder?" Kang Deming also came over after hearing Zhao Xingde's question.Wu Yue's face was bewildered, and he said weakly, "I don't know." Kang Deming's face showed disappointment, Zhao Xingde also sighed slightly, and said again: "Brother Wu, is there any unfulfilled wish?" Wu Yue's eyes moved He moved, looked at Li Rui, and looked at Kang Deming again. There was only a faint sound from his throat. Li Rui heard a faint sound of "呀". Is it something about disciples?" Wu Yue closed his eyes slightly, then opened them again, trying to force a smile on his face, not long after, he shivered violently again, his teeth chattered, and he could no longer speak.

At this time, the sound of horseshoes came from outside the crowd. Zhao Xingde looked up and saw that more than two hundred tiger wing troops came. The leading lieutenant of the tiger wing army asked where the murderer was. More than [-] people stood at the scene of the murder, waiting for the servants of the Dunhuang government order to come.After the established Tiger Wing Army arrived, the sergeants who had previously maintained order dispersed one after another.Only Zhao Xingde and Li Rui were still beside the two victims.

Seeing that Wu Yue's eyes had lost sight, Li Rui held his hand and called out urgently in a low voice, "Brother Wu, Brother Wu." Wu Yue's breath gradually became weaker and his body became colder, but his eyes were still wide open.Zhao Xingde was silent for a moment, and said in a low voice: "The murderer will be brought to justice, Brother Wu can go away." He closed his eyes for him.At this time, the yamen servants and Wu Zuo had arrived, and carried the body to the mortuary cart and transported it back to the Dunhuang Ling Yamen.Only then did Zhao Xingde leave with Li Rui.The sun in the sky was bright and dazzling, but the mood of the two was as gloomy as a dark cloud.

The two walked to a fork in the road, and another group of more than a hundred tiger-winged cavalry passed by Zhao Xingde and Li Rui, and galloped north along the official road. Behind the tiger-winged cavalry, there were scattered sergeants from other troops Then, swords, bows and arrows hung behind the saddle.This was the news from the sergeants living nearby, and they immediately prepared their horses to join in the search for the assassins.Due to the haste of the incident, most people wore simple leather armor over their robes at home, and then put on a sheepskin cloak to keep out the cold overnight.

Zhao Xingde and Li Rui hid beside the road, watching the backs of the cavalry galloping away, Zhao Xingde couldn't help speeding up his pace.The Hexi Corridor where Dunhuang is located is closed, and there is no place to hide in the plains. The murderer fled to the north, and he always wanted to escape to Mazong Mountain in the north.If you want to bring him to justice, it is best to catch up with the murderer before he crosses the mountains and flees into the desert.At the same time, the various mountain passes of Mazong Mountain were blocked, and even the cavalry and Yinhu Ranch in the north of the desert were mobilized to block them.

"Just now, the author said that the crossbows used by the assassins are weapons made by the Luoyang Workshop," Li Rui said as he walked, "It must be the enemy of the Kanto."

"It's unbelievable that people come all the way from Dunhuang to kill people." Zhao Xingde shook his head.It should not be a political enemy of the DPRK and China.The Lishe became more powerful, and the head of the society, Chen Dong, was able to survive on Fujian Road.In the eyes of the 'treacherous' party, the Dongren Society is nothing more than an ant-like existence, and it is really not enough to use assassins.

Li Rui also said: "I think it's clear that the murderer deliberately planted the blame." The two were talking.A rider came galloping from the opposite side, and when he saw Zhao Xingde, he shouted loudly: "Mr. Zhao, there is an order from the General's Mansion. Our battalion gathers the brothers who are stationed in the Western Capital to assist in chasing down the murderer who assassinated the scholar's mansion. The assassin was heading north. Have you escaped?" Zhao Xingde looked up, and it was Liu Zheng, a sergeant under his command, who nodded and said loudly: "Okay, I will prepare my horse and come right away."

Liu Zheng immediately saluted Zhao Xingde, yelled loudly, clamped the horse's belly, and urged the horse to go north.He also wanted to inform several other Chengying camp sergeants who were resting at their nearby homes.

The military order was like a mountain, Zhao Xingde said goodbye to Li Rui immediately, and hurried home, Li Ruoxue had been notified by Liu Zheng, and stood in the courtyard waiting.Zhao Xingde's armor, bow and arrow, food water bag, and cloak were all sorted out and placed next to the saddle.Zhao Xingde's expression was pretending to be relaxed, he smiled slightly, gently hugged Ruoxue in his arms, and said with relief: "It's just a few clowns hiding in the dark, the General's Mansion has launched a sky-rocketing attack, and it will be impossible for him to escape .”

He said it lightly, but in fact thousands of troops scattered, and each small group of sergeants was only a few or a dozen of them. If they suddenly encountered those assassins who dared to assassinate them in the Dunhuang scholar's mansion, they would be brave enough to die. There is also a poisonous crossbow, and the trapped beast is still fighting, which is quite dangerous.

Li Ruoxue lowered her eyes, covered the worry in her eyes, and said in a low voice: "Take care." Holding back her reluctance, she let go of Zhao Xingde, and watched him get on his horse and gallop out of the door, before returning to the dormitory, kneeling in front of the Guanyin statue and closing his eyes Pray for his peace.

This bloody case in the scholar's mansion shocked the five mansions.Emperor Chen Xuanyi Longyan was furious, and personally ordered the Longya Army to dispatch two battalions of sergeants to arrest the suspect. Half an hour later, the Longya, Huyi, and Chengying Army dispatched thousands of soldiers, and the cavalry pulled away. Zhang Da searched slowly to the north, and the other army envoy Feiqi notified the beacon, battalion and Yinhu pasture in the north of Mazongshan Pass, and paid close attention to all suspicious persons.Yumen Pass and Yang Pass in the northwest and Xiao Pass in the southeast were all closed.

This large-scale search related to the prestige of the court lasted from day to night. The advance tiger wing army continued to find traces of the escaped murderer, and the hounds domesticated by the Military Intelligence Department and the Dunhuang government office also followed the smell of the murderer's horse.At night, thousands of soldiers lit torches and searched in the wilderness. Finally, at dawn the next day, they trapped the three suspects in a mountain depression on Mazong Mountain. However, these three desperadoes were desperate Under this, he committed suicide with a poisonous crossbow.

The huge formation put out, but only brought back three corpses.Needless to say, there must be a mastermind behind the murder suspect, but it will take time to check.After working hard all day and night, the returning cavalry were a little listless.Behind the window of a small building, a figure stood sideways in the shadows, with a pair of cold eyes, watching all this condescendingly.

"Swatted two buzzing flies to death, and watched a very lively show. The [-] yuan is worth the money." Qiu Daguan turned the jasper ring on his index finger, and a smile appeared on his face. A contemptuous smile.His hands were well maintained, with thick joints sunk in thick muscles.

"Shopkeeper, is there going to be too much trouble this time, and it's a little risky?" Shopkeeper Luo who was standing behind him asked cautiously.He is the most confidant shopkeeper of Daguan Qiu.When he was in the Song Dynasty, whether it was human trafficking, salt smuggling, or arranging people to smash the shops of his opponents, or colluding with bandits to kill people and loot goods to cause trouble, Qiu Darui let him do it with confidence.Sometimes Qiu Darui has no time to spare, and the gold worth more than [-] guan is also safe to let shopkeeper Luo handle it to make friends with the government.This time the business was done in Guanzhong, and Qiu Darui brought him by his side.This time, when dealing with this group of scholars who also came from the Kanto region to make trouble, Shopkeeper Luo felt that it was not safe for Senior Official Qiu to do so.

"Traveling danger?" Qiu Dari repeated softly, with a gleam of coldness flashing in his eyes, he said slowly, "If I allow them to enter the prime minister's mansion, it will be called running danger." There was a power in his words that could not be disobeyed.